The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, some updates on the war in Ukraine.

Russia is Making Daily Gains in Eastern Ukraine

CNN: Russia is making daily tactical gains in eastern Ukraine, as concerns swirl around Ukrainian military reporting.

Draft-Dodging Plagues Ukraine

Over at the left-wing Politico: Draft-dodging plagues Ukraine as Kyiv faces acute soldier shortage.  An excerpt:

“Ukraine is perilously short not only of ammunition — especially artillery shells and air defense missiles — but also of soldiers to see off a Russian attack. The average age of Ukraine’s frontline soldiers is 43 — and evidence of draft-dodging is mounting.

The BBC recently reported that 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age have fled the country in the past two years, most slipping across its borders with Poland and Slovakia, some with false exemption papers allowing them to exit Ukraine despite a ban on fighting-age men leaving the country.”

Life on Ukraine’s Front Line

From Reuters: Life on Ukraine’s front line: ‘Worse than hell’ as Russia advances.

Preppers: Whatever Disaster is Next, They’re Ready

Preppers: Whatever disaster is next, they’re ready.
Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 29, 2024

On May 29, 1999, Discovery became the first space shuttle to dock with the International Space Station.

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On May 29th, 1660 — his 30th birthday — Charles II returned to London from exile in the Netherlands to claim the English throne after the Puritan Commonwealth came to an end.

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The summit of Mount Everest was reached by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

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The Sporter Sale Continues!  All of the sporterized rifles in my inventory are on sale, at Elk Creek Company. By request from several readers, I’ve extended this sale for a week, to end on Friday, May 31st. When I last checked, we still had milsurp sporters available chambered in .22-250, .243 Winchester, .257 Roberts, 6.5×55 Mauser, 7×57 Mauser,  .308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO, 7.65mm Argentine Mauser, and .45 ACP.  Order yours, soon!

Christian Manliness and the Collapse – Part 2, by Dr. Joseph

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

The Philosophy of Manliness

Let us start with a reference to one of the few righteous feminists, Camille Paglia. In her book Sexual Personae [11], she distinguishes between the Apollonian male principle of order and civilization, and the Dionysian female principle of nature = chaos. As she says, “[c]ulture and civilization are created by men in an attempt to control that force.” We see this clearly in the feminist attack upon male “logic,” and the savage postmodernist assault upon scientific rationality. Yet, as she observes, “if civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts.” Reflecting upon the technological wonders that surround her, primarily created by men, she writes: “… One of feminism’s irritating reflexes is its fashionable disdain for “patriarchal society,” to which nothing good is ever attributed. But it is patriarchal society that has freed me as a woman. It is capitalism that has given me the leisure to sit at this desk writing this book.”

We may take rationality and technological mastery to be one of the defining qualities of manliness, as most of the technologies that have ever existed were created by men, and still are, despite affirmative action overload. Mastery is the capacity to develop skill and techniques to enable control over the physical and social environment, and it is a preoccupation of manly males to engage in mastery of themselves and their environment.Continue reading“Christian Manliness and the Collapse – Part 2, by Dr. Joseph”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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What can happen if you park under an overpass during a tornado.

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Here is a new Sharp Pointy Things instructional video from SurvivalBlog’s Editor-at-Large, Mike Williamson: Short Swords.

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SaraSue sent this snippet:

“I decided to not write in detail about the tornado emergency that we had.  Suffice it to say there were 10 documented tornadoes that whipped through Tennessee (EF0 – EF4) in 24 hours.  Our small town was flooded and people are still working through the cleanup, and many lost their homes.  It’s been heavy on my heart.  Thankfully, my farm, which is up on a hill, was untouched.  I never lost power.  My well water, upstream from town, was good, while the town was on a boil water notice.  I feel very fortunate.

Spring is the busiest time of year, and the most beautiful.  Spring grass for the cows means their milk production increases.  Calves are born.  The gardens are prepped and planted.  The days are longer and the sun brighter.  This is my third Spring at the farm, my third gardening season, my fourth calf born on the farm.  I am downsizing my dairy cow herd by one or two, to make sure I have adequate pasture.  Time to get cows “bred back” again for future calves.  One is visiting a bull for the summer, and the others scheduled for A.I.  The new flock of chicks are growing fast and secured in the large hen house.  There is so much work to do that the days fly by and I always feel like I didn’t get anything done.  Keeping an “organic” farm has its challenges.  I waited a couple of months to get my hands on some good, local, organic compost to top my garden beds with.  The 32″ tall beds were filled with my own (unfinished) compost first, then topped with a finished compost.  Only 4 of the 8 beds are assembled, and only 3 planted.  Weed control and pasture management, without the use of fertilizers and chemicals, is a lot of work, and it’s mostly manual.  In the Spring, I always “feel like” it’s all too much to manage and want to give up, but each year I try to develop methods that will work in the long run so that I’m not always shoveling against the tide.  And I’m learning to lower my expectations.  LOL.  I have a couple of neighbor kids helping me.  The boy works outside and the girl helps me inside.  It’s a perfect match for what I need right now.  They are sweet, respectful, and hard-working.”

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it, so reasonable arguments, challenges to magnanimity, and appeals to sympathy or justice, are folly when we are dealing with human crocodiles and boa-constrictors.” – William James

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — May 28, 2024

Beginning May 28, 1942, 1,800 Czechs were murdered by the Nazis in retaliation for the resistance killing of Obergruppenführer (SS General) Heydrich.

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On May 28, 585 BC, a solar eclipse, as predicted by Greek philosopher Thales, while Lydians at war with the Medes leads to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates in early history are calculated.

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May 28, 1754, the Battle of Jumonville Glen. Forces led by George Washington killed French Canadian officer Joseph Coulon de Jumonville.

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On May 28, 1900, Paul Kruger, President of the Boer Republic of South Africa, fled its capital, Pretoria. He went to Watervalboven to evade the advancing British.

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May 28, 1937: The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opened to vehicular traffic.

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Today is also the birthday of the late Major General Victor Joseph Hugo Jr. (28 May 1931 – 11 May 2020. )

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2,000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA — courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $359 value),
  4. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  5. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  3. A $200 credit from Military Surplus LLC that can be applied to purchase and/or shipping costs for any of their in-stock merchandise, including full mil-spec ammo cans, Rothco clothing and field gear, backpacks, optics, compact solar panels, first aid kits, and more.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters (a $305 value),
  2. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  3. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Christian Manliness and the Collapse – Part 1, by Dr. Joseph

The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
Proverbs 22:3

Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 Timothy 5:8

Blessed be the Lord my rock who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.
Psalms 144:1

In this article, I am completing my previous arguments regarding martial virtue via melee weapons in a WROL, TEOTWAWKI, Mad Max scenario, through detailing the manly qualities need for survival in such times. [1] The evidence for such a collapse is I think much greater than many survivalists believe. [2] The prospects of a collapse of techno-industrial civilisation from the converging and compounding catastrophes [3], leading to a great die off of the bulk of humanity and the coming of a new Dark Age, is not to be discounted. Nor should be the hyper-violence that will arise as unprepared starving people will, obviously enough, not go into the darkest of nights, quietly. [4] Indeed, as Mr. Rawles observed back in 2006, almost a golden year relative to the violence and chaos that is being observed in cities across the West now, “In a situation where law enforcement is non-existent, I am certain that the vast majority of people will have no compunctions to take what they want, and that good portion of them will kill without hesitation.” [5]Continue reading“Christian Manliness and the Collapse – Part 1, by Dr. Joseph”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies located in the American Redoubt region that are of interest to preppers and survivalists. Today, another look at the Greater Idaho movement. (See the Region-Wide section.)

Region-Wide

‘Greater Idaho’ measure passes in 13th Oregon county. The article begins:

“Residents in Crook County, Oregon, approved the “Greater Idaho” measure Tuesday that would require the county to proceed with efforts to secede from the state and join Idaho.

Voters passed the measure with 53%, making it the 13th county in eastern Oregon to approve it.”

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And from the Eastern liberal perspective of The New York Post: 13th conservative Oregon county approves measure to secede and join ‘Greater Idaho’. An excerpt:

“Greater Idaho would see more than half of Oregon’s territory leave the Beaver State and join Republican-run Idaho to the east.

The move would shift Idaho’s border 200 miles west past the heart of Oregon.

Greater Idaho began in earnest in 2020 and quickly began picking up traction, with eleven of the state’s 36 counties voting to endorse the idea by 2022.

Driving the force is a sharp political divide between the more sparsely populated, rural and conservative interior of Oregon, and the liberal coastal cities with population hubs like Portland and the state’s capital of Salem.

If Greater Idaho were achieved Oregon would lose two-thirds of its land but only about 10% of its population — a disparity which has left the conservative interior of the state feeling like their laws are being passed by people with no connection to their lifestyle and beliefs.”

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Why “Nobody” Lives In Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, or Idaho.

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Some typical academic journal absurdity, on the Redoubt concept, this time from Australia: Nonconformity and the role of Sanctions within the Survivalist Community.

Idaho

Pushing some RINOs out: Conservative candidates win big in Magic Valley.

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Rafter survives after embarking on a solo trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way, the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.” –  Pat Miller, in his book Willfully Ignorant

Preparedness Notes for Monday — May 27, 2024

On May 27, 1905, the Japanese fleet destroyed the Russian East Sea fleet in the Battle of Tsushima, the only decisive clash between modern steel battleships in history.

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Today, Memorial Day, is a day of solemn remembrance in the U.S. of the many who have given their all for our freedoms. We always thank those who are serving in our military and their families who have also made sacrifices, but today most of all we want to honor those who gave their lives.

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The Sporter Sale Continues!  All of the remaining sporterized rifles in my inventory are on sale, at Elk Creek Company. They have been selling quickly. I should mention that tomorrow I’m mailing seven more Loewe Mauser sporter rifles, a M1891 Argentine Mauser, two Winchesters, and a Finn M39 on a 1897 vintage action. By request from several readers, I extended this sale for a week, to end on Friday, May 31st. When I last checked, we still had milsurp sporters available chambered in .22-250, .243 Winchester, .257 Roberts, 6.5×55 Mauser, 7×57 Mauser,  .308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO,  7.62x39mm, 7.65mm Argentine Mauser, and .45 ACP.

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Today’s feature article is a review written by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

Champion Handle-Rod, by Thomas Christianson

From time to time, days of hunger come. Sometimes they come for an individual, sometimes for a family, and sometimes for pretty much everyone at once. Money is short, food is expensive, and it is difficult to keep properly fed. During hungry days, fishing may offer a welcome way to add valuable protein to the daily diet.

Even during days of prosperity, many people find fishing to be a fun and relaxing pursuit. So in good days and in bad, whether providing protein or lowering your blood pressure, fishing may be good for your health.

Some excellent items of fishing equipment are no longer in production. The demands of a consumer society have rendered some top-quality gear no longer economically feasible to produce. The beryllium-copper fishing rod is one example.

The Champion Handle-Rod is a telescoping, beryllium-copper casting rod that was made by the Champion Products Company of Muskegon Heights, Michigan from the late 1940s until the early 1970s. It measures 11 inches when it is collapsed, extends to 5 feet in length, and weighs only 6 ounces. The beryllium-copper alloy used in the rod is as strong as steel, resists taking a set, resists metal fatigue, and exhibits superb corrosion resistance. The compact size into which the Handle-Rod can be collapsed makes it extremely easy to store and transport. The cork handle is very comfortable to grip.Continue reading“Champion Handle-Rod, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week: Simple Breakfast Sausage-Style Mini-Burgers

The following recipe for Simple Beef Breakfast Sausage-Style Mini-Burgers is from Avalanche Lily.

Ingredients
  • 2 pounds of extra lean ground hamburger beef.
  • Salt, to taste
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves (or half that amount, if dry)
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves (or half that amount, if dry)
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional) for pan
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup (optional)
Directions
  1. Mix the spices well.
  2. Sprinkle the spices on and thoroughly mix them into the hamburger and maple syrup (if used).
  3. Form into quite small burgers — roughly 1/3 to 1/2 the size of a regular hamburger.
  4. Pan-fry them until well done.
  5. Drain them of grease on a folded paper towel.
SERVING

Serve them while still hot, with other breakfast fare like pancakes and fresh fruit.

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic shows US Megaregions. More than 50% of people live in these seven areas.

(Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

The thumbnail image below is click-expandable.

 

 

 

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Please send your graphic ideas to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.